Meskó Csaba: Thermal Baths - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1999)
Baths and their professional MANAGEMENT The civilised, quality services a baths has to offer depend, besides the givens of the natural and architectural environment, on the work and behaviour of the personnel operating it. The management and operation of baths is a time-honoured profession which explains the occasional appearance of the Hungarian surnames Fürdős and För- dős (bath master). We have evidence to show that operating baths was among the most frequent occupations among the population of Buda-Felhévíz in the 16th and 17th centuries. This is what the teacher Sándor Takáts, member of the Piarist teaching order, writes about “The Bath Masters of Old” in his A magyar mult tarlójáról (Pickings from the Stubble of Hungary’s Past, 1926): “And indeed, such a denomination was to be found among our forebears. As early as the 15th century, and especially in the western parts, one would often come across bath masters. And in the 16th century, they would, here and there, form associations, veritable guilds, just like their good brothers the barbers, in comparison with whom they regarded themselves not one whit less worthy of esteem. And just like the barbers, they, too, practised the art of healing. Our meek forefathers could but seldom avail themselves of professional services offered by trained physicians, wherefore they had to fall back on whatever medical advice came their way, often peddled by people of modest learning. Such were our good bath masters, who would cure their patients now with baths, now with whatever other means offered themselves. Furthermore, on the side, they also cut hair, nails or, if need be, put out fires. Hungarian towns had public bathing houses as early as the 16th century. Heedless to say, these made use of the thermal waters and the various mineral waters available. Thus, bath mastership was always a much sought- after profession. The court of our wealthier aristocrats often counted bath masters among their number. And there were those who operated their own public baths. As that of any other trade, the attainment of the mastership required formal professional training. There were proper journeymen and apprentices. The stripling run11
